Sorensen aims to increase students on A-rated campuses

La Joya ISD Superintendent Dr. Marcey Sorensen said her overall goal is to increase the percentage of students attending A and B campuses by 6% before Aug. 2029.

During the Jan. 29 board meeting, the district leader proposed her goal, which she called the North Star Goal for La Joya ISD. A North Star strategy is a planning device people or businesses use to optimize success.

“The point is to have a system that’s working altogether. We have our board goals, superintendent constraints, constraint progress measures, all ultimately to get us to that North Star Goal of being an A district. And we do that by increasing A and B seats,” the superintendent said. “So it all works together as a system so that we have incredible opportunities for our families and that our families trust that we have high quality best fit schools and high quality seats in every single school across our district.” 

The North Star Goal is an element of Sorensen’s constraint progress measures (CPM). In November, La Joya ISD created a set of superintendent constraints to adhere to the Lone Star Governance model. They are supposed to reflect the values most important to the district. The superintendent’s constraints are: 

1. They shall not allow conditions that decrease student achievement
2. They shall not allow conditions that harm students with disabilities 
3. They shall not allow conditions that purposely compromise transparency and trust with the community 

The first constraint has two progress measures related to the district’s recent decision to close Zapata Elementary and restart Garza and Seguin elementaries. CPM 1.1 is any campus with a D or F rating for two consecutive years will receive a strategic academic intervention.  

“It’s my responsibility to ensure that we are not allowing conditions that decrease student achievement,” Sorensen said. “We cannot allow it and it is my responsibility then to intervene where needed.” 

Constraint progress measure 1.2 relates to the North Star Goal — the percentage of students who attend A and B campuses districtwide will increase by 6% over the next five years. Currently, La Joya ISD is rated a B district by the state. If the district achieves the proposed North Star Goal, it will tip the percentage to where it will become an A-rated district. 

“There’s absolutely no reason that over the next five years we should not be striving to be an A district,” the superintendent said. “Well that’s going to require us to move the needle on what we set as board goals. We need more students to be at Meets Expectations or above, whether that be in reading or math and in each level.” 

Sorensen asked for some grace regarding the progress measures for the second constraint  — relating to students with disabilities — because she wants to wait until after receiving the results of the special education audit. The audit is underway, and the district should receive the results in early March. 

The third constraint — related to trust and transparency — also has two progress measures. The first CPM is that school actions will not occur without significant engagement with feedback from the community. 

“Conversation engagement does not always result in agreement,” Sorensen said. “But the opportunity for conversation, the opportunity for dialogue, the opportunity for us to listen, learn, reflect, adjust and be transparent in order to continue to build trust is what I, the superintendent, will promise this board and this community that I will continue to do.” 

The second CMP for constraint three is also still in the works. In the spirit of building trust, the superintendent wants to administer an annual district climate survey with stakeholders to provide baseline data and set future growth targets. The district will administer the first climate surgery sometime this semester. 

The board of managers must vote on Sorensen’s proposed North Star Goal and the entire body of constraints before the district can enact them in an official capacity.